AEGON International Tuesday round-up: Wins for Konta and Watson but defending champ Keys bows out

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Published:20:06Tuesday 23 June 2015

British No.2 Johanna Konta won her first match against an opponent in the world’s top 10 to advance to the third round of her home town tournament.

The world number 146 beat Ekaterina Makarova, ranked eighth in the world, and will meet 14th-seed Garbine Muguruza in the third round following the 6-2 6-4 win.

“I knew she wouldn’t give me any easy points - she is a top-10 player for a reason. I had to play some of my best tennis out there,” Konta added.

British No.1 Heather Watson also marched through to round three with a hard-fought victory against world No.17 Elina Svitolina. She came from a set down to win an epic match on centre court 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. Her win also included a rare three aces in a row.

Afterwards a tearful Heather Watson said, “I’m just so happy it means so much to me. The atmosphere here was something else. I just love playing here.”

Keys, who had recently recovered from a bout of flu, said, “It was not quite happening for me today. It is always tough playing your first match of grass. Everyone has to work into it a little bit and it’s different compared to hard courts or clay. Belinda has played a ton of matches on grass and feels really comfortable and you could tell because she played really well today.

“There is never good timing to be sick or hurt but coming into a time where there is such a short window to prepare is definitely a disadvantage but it happens so you just have to deal with it.”

Bencic, 18, will play last year’s Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard on Wednesday on centre court.

Bouchard, 21, advanced thanks to a straight sets win against against American Alison Riske.

Number three seed Lucie Safarova bowed out thanks to a 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 defeat by Dominika Cibulkova.

There was a blow for for sixth seed Angelique Kerber as she pulled out through illness. The German left hander, who reached the final last year, recently won her first grass-court title in Birmingham on Sunday.